Oh wow, I had no idea you could opt out. I flew to Paris recently and they were herding people like cattle through CDG and at no point was it clear that there was an opt out. Hell, it wasn’t even obvious I was about to have my face scanned until I stepped into a very claustrophobic chamber, the doors shut behind me, and it told me I needed to scan my face before I could walk out the other side of that chamber. In a moment like that, after being awake for 30 hours because some crotch goblins were screaming the entire flight, trapped in a pod the size of my closet, telling me to stand still and let the techbros steal your faceprint, my personal morals about facial rec were the last thing on my mind.
It is kind of shady and definitely unethical. There should be a obvious opt out. In the US when you are arrested the police are legally obligated to tell you your rights. The same should be true about TSA
What is a crotch goblin? Is that another name for genital lice?
From the context, children.
In theory, an officer is then supposed to manually look over your ID and compare it to your face, as they used to do before facial recognition. But in practice, there have been reports of passengers — even a senator — facing resistance or intimidation when they try to go this route.
The same thing that happens in most cases where a person tries to assert their rights.
I always opt-out and have never gotten push back. Sometimes I’ll even start a trend with people behind me.
“if you’re unhappy about having your face scanned, opt out and make a painful process even more painful!”
I get what they’re saying, but sometimes it just isn’t with the effort. I moved 1300 miles away from my family (single, no kids) so I fly pretty frequently now. I can get through Fort Lauderdale airport, which is pretty big in ten minutes from the curb to my gate…and that’s with like 50-100 people in line with me.
I’m also a 38 year old white guy so it’s a US citizen with no criminal record, so that makes it easier compared to someone that looks Middle Eastern. My friends are Italian-American, but look Middle Eastern and have definitely been “randomly selected” before though.
Standing up for your rights isn’t convenient, but it has to be done. Those that engineer this shit know that and make it as convoluted they can for this exact reason.
Always be on guard against those who would make you give up your rights voluntarily while giving up none of their own.
I understand what you’re saying, but if you’ve ever uploaded a picture or video of yourself to the Internet, they already had enough for surveillance.
A lot of people don’t care that much and opting out is your right if you do care.
That’s how they “win”; by making it “not worth the effort”.
The TSA’s goal is to roll out the tech in all of the more than 430 airports that it covers, arguing that this kind of automation would reduce “friction” at airports — meaning, presumably, how long it takes passengers to move through security.
If you’re unhappy about the use of the tech, you can consider generating more friction next time you fly.
Good closing line
I always reject this. The TSA agents are always nice about it.
The last one even explained to my peers why one might want to refuse facial recognition.
TSA is usually not bad unless they are way overworked
Depends on the worker. I’ve had interactions with them screaming at me for asking if I can say “no” to them calmly explaining to me my rights
Last time I opted out, CBP told me that overhead cameras throughout the airport employ facial recognition. Is that true? Is it legal?
Well, probably. You can’t 100% trust them.
Uploads thousand og pictures of themselves to social media
Airport scanning my face! That’s AgAiNsT my privacyyyyyy!
Here in Europe, you don’t have to go through any facial recognition check if you don’t want to. This also applies if you’re traveling to the UK.
Honest quetion, how/where are drivers license photos saved? Is saving photos at the state level more or less secure than saving at the federal level? Also, the TSA supposedly just uses scans to speed up and more accurately verify, and claims not to save the scans (for now). If they wanted a database of everyone’s face scan, couldn’t they just subpoena every state’s DMV/tag-agency for license photos?
